Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is set to attend and deliver a key address at the Sixth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union (AU) in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
The event to be held at the Accra International Conference Centre comes immediately after a two-day ministerial meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
As Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Tinubu will speak on the status of regional integration across Africa, highlighting West Africa’s achievements and challenges since the last meeting in July 2023.
“President Tinubu will address the meeting on the status of regional integration across various areas in Africa, highlighting the achievements and challenges encountered in West Africa since the last meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2023,” according to an official statement from the presidency.
The event brings together the AU, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RMs), and African Union Member States. President Tinubu will present the ‘2024 Report on the State of the Community’, which will focus on “peace, regional security, governance, economic integration, humanitarian and social development, energy, mines and agriculture,” the statement noted.
The President and Chairman of ECOWAS will present the ‘2024 Report on the State of the Community’, focusing on peace, regional security, governance, economic integration, humanitarian and social development, energy, mines and agriculture.
Convened under the AU’s 2024 theme “Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century,” the meeting aims to align the work of the AU and RECs, coordinating efforts towards continental integration. The presidency statement highlighted that “the items on the agenda will include evaluating the AU’s early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms and promoting cooperation among regional economic communities to accelerate integration.”
This Mid-Year Coordination Meeting “was conceptualized in 2017 as the principal forum for the AU and the RECs to align their work and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda, replacing the June/July summits,” according to the official statement.
The gathering is expected to conclude with the adoption of a declaration. President Tinubu, “accompanied by senior government officials, will return to the country at the conclusion of the meeting,” the statement added.
This marks another significant diplomatic engagement for Tinubu, who delivered his maiden speech as ECOWAS Chairman at the previous AU meeting in Nairobi last year.
